The object of this invention is to satisfy a need for a low cost, convenient and efficient tea bag compressor or squeezer, which need has not been satisfied by any known prior art device.
A great many prior art devices in the nature of tongs, pliers and other gripping and manipulating tools are known. However, none of these devices can be used conveniently and efficiently to compress a tea bag in order to drain the liquid therefrom downwardly into a tea cup. As a result, most users of tea bags resort to haphazard squeezing methods, such as wrapping the attached string around a bag and spoon, or compressing the bag between the fingers. Many users simply place the tea bag aside without squeezing it and in so doing the most concentrated tea essence is lost. All of these haphazard procedures tend to be messy, as is well known.
The above problems are overcome entirely by the present invention. A small one-piece spring compressor or tongs is provided, to be held in one hand and operated by the thumb and index finger. Balanced finger grip elements are provided near the center of the device and the rearward spring loop fits conveniently into the palm of the hand. Two broad flat jaw plates extend forwardly from the finger grip elements and converge slightly upwardly. As the jaw plates close upon a tea bag, they not only compress it across its full width, but also apply compression downwardly in a progressive manner from top-to-bottom as the convergent jaw plates move into parallelism due to increasing finger pressure. This causes the liquid in the tea bag to drain downwardly into the cup in a very efficient manner to avoid the usual dripping and soiling of the saucer and surroundings. The device can be manufactured advantageously from stainless steel or from a durable plastics. Advertising indicia from a tea bag manufacturer or restaurant can be placed on the outer faces of the jaw plates. Thus, the device may be used as an inexpensive promotional and advertising item due to its economy of manufacture.